October 14, 1983

The California Court of Appeals overturned murder charges Wednesday night against two doctors who were the first in the United States to be indicted for withdrawing all life support systems from a patient.

A number of doctors hailed the court's position as a major victory for the medical profession and said they hoped it would lead to establishing legal conditions under which doctors could allow terminally ill patients to die. The court ruled that the doctors did not violate any legal duty, saying they had no obligation to provide their patient with ineffective treatment.